The Boldest Creative Decisions Don’t Feel Bold From the Inside
One of the most memorable stories I’ve heard on my podcast didn’t begin with a viral music video. It began with a phone call to a travelling circus in a small town in Kerala.
Hanumankind’s manager, Rohan Venkatesh, told me the story while we were talking about the making of the Big Dawgs music video. The circus had just finished its final show and was a day away from packing up and leaving. If they missed that window, the location would be gone.
Rohan didn’t speak Malayalam, so he asked a friend to make the call. They convinced the owner to leave the entire set standing for another twenty-four hours. Confirmation came forty-eight hours before the shoot. The next morning, Rohan drove down with the crew, Suraj, and two cases of Simba, the video’s sponsor.
They shot the entire music video in one day.
As of posting this, the video has 317 million views on YouTube.
But what stayed with me wasn’t the view count. It was the way Rohan described the process. It didn’t sound like a bold decision. It sounded like the correct one.
I spent years working at YouTube, watching labels and managers make decisions about creative work. The people who consistently got it right weren’t necessarily the ones with the best decks. They were the ones who, once they believed an idea was worth pursuing, treated the logistics as the only remaining problem.
The vision had already been decided. There was very little left to debate.
That is also what artist management looks like at its best. Not just discussing an artist’s vision, but making sure it survives contact with reality. In this case, that meant navigating a language barrier, waiting for a last-minute confirmation, driving to a small town in Kerala, and making sure a travelling circus didn’t disappear before the cameras arrived.
Most of the music business is very good at discussing vision. Far fewer people are willing to do what it takes once that vision is clear.
That type of conviction makes a global hit.
Decks only make “sense”.
